


a foreign taste on my tongue

by torigates



Category: Kate Daniels - Ilona Andrews
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-22
Updated: 2013-12-22
Packaged: 2018-01-05 13:57:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,058
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1094706
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/torigates/pseuds/torigates
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kate has a good day.</p>
            </blockquote>





	a foreign taste on my tongue

**Author's Note:**

  * For [katayla](https://archiveofourown.org/users/katayla/gifts).



There was nothing in particular that woke Kate up that morning. No one was banging on their door with the latest emergency, and Kate didn't have any scheduled meetings until just before lunch. When she opened her eyes she felt rested and refreshed.

Curran was still in bed with her. The two of them drifted apart during the night, but when she turned on her side, he was there, solid and reassuring. She smiled and tucked the hair that had come loose from her braid during the night behind her ear.

The light that was trickling in through the curtains was the muted shade of blue that indicated it would be a nice day. Kate moved closer, tucking her hand comfortably under her head, but didn't touch him yet, content to simply watch.

"You're being creepy," Curran said, his voice rumbling through his chest, sounding rough from sleep.

She smiled. "I am not," she said.

He smiled, but didn't open his eyes. "You are," he said. "I believe it's widely accepted that watching someone sleep is creepy."

She smacked him, but it was an awkward angle and not at all effective. She grimaced at herself, thinking what Voron would say, then quickly banished the thought. Here, of all places, she could afford not to worry about a less than perfectly executed attack.

"You'd know," she said, pressing closer. "How many times, exactly, did you break into my apartment while I was there?"

His eyes were still closed, but he somehow managed to look guilty. Kate found that she was, almost despite herself, helplessly fond. She shifted forward into his space and he put his arms around her.

It was warm under their blankets, and they still had time before either of them had to be anywhere.

"Good morning," she whispered against his lips.

He smiled, eyes still closed. "Good morning."

She pulled him to her, and for a while there wasn't much talking at all between them.

 

-

 

They made it out of their rooms in time for Kate to sit down and eat breakfast with Julie before she headed off to school.

"What's wrong with your face?" Julie asked.

Kate brought her hand up to touch her head, only stopping herself at the last minute. "What do you mean?" she asked. "There's nothing wrong with my face."

"Are you sure?" Julie asked, her lips quirking upwards. "There's something wrong with your mouth." She drew a circle in the air in front of her own mouth. "The corners are... turned up or something."

Kate threw her fork at her.

"No, seriously," Julie said. "It's weird. You're freaking me out."

Kate glared at her, but even that felt halfhearted.

"Oh," Julie said in mock relief. "That's better." She reached across the table and pinched Kate's cheeks.

"I get no respect around here," Kate muttered into her oatmeal.

Julie just laughed and began to gather her things.

"Get out of here, you ungrateful brat!" Kate called as Julie left.

Julie blew kisses over her shoulder, and Kate stifled a smile.

She finished her breakfast in relative peace. Relative, being the key word, of course. She was only interrupted by pack members every ten minutes, instead of her usual every five. She found herself, not minding the intrusion for a change. People wanting to say hello, or tell her about their children. She smiled and nodded, doing her best to put faces to names and remember every detail she was told.

After eating, she decided that the workout she and Curran had gotten together that morning probably wasn't enough to keep her on the top of her game, so she decided to get some exercise before her first meeting later that morning.

She ran through a couple sets of weights, then decided to get some cardio. She surveyed their gym looking for options, before ultimately deciding on going a few rounds with the punching bag. Not the heavy duty one Curran used, he tricked her into hitting it once, and she had nearly broken her hand in the process. He laughed for about five minutes straight, and then they'd ended up wrestling. Kate laughed to herself, they really did treat violence like foreplay. She wondered if that was a problem.

Nah.

After about five minutes with the punching bag, she realised she wasn't alone, and stopped mid-kick.

She sighed. "You may as well come out."

Derek slunk out of the shadows. His face couldn't quite manage sheepish these days, but he got as close as he could. Kate wondered if she would ever stop looking at him and expecting to see his old face, if she would ever stop feeling bad about it. Probably not.

She smiled, her breathing heavy. "Want to go a few rounds?" she asked.

He tucked his hands into his pockets and grinned. "I don't particularly feel like getting my ass kicked, no."

She rolled her eyes. "Oh come on, you could take me."

"Flattery will get you nowhere," he said, but he walked across the room shedding his jacket and top shirt.

She laughed, and the two of them began to circle each other.

Derek lashed out, not quite fast enough, and Kate jumped out of the way. He grabbed her foot while she was mid flight and she found herself flat on her back with the wind knocked out of her.

She moved quickly, not allowing Derek the chance to take advantage and kicked him in the gut. He dropped and tried to roll behind her aiming for the back of her knees. She dropped flat to the mat and rolled to her back, kicking out again with both legs.

He backed out of her reach and she sprang to her feet. The two of them stood facing each other for a moment, and then they were off again.

Kate was the stronger fighter, of that there was no question, but Derek had definitely improved in leaps and bounds since she had first met him. By the time they were done, and she had him pinned, they both had worked up a good sweat.

"Good fight," she told him, after he tapped out.

He rolled his shoulders once before turning over on his back, a wry smile on his face. "For you, maybe," he said. "I'm going to be sore for a week."

She rolled her eyes, and offered him a hand up. She wasn't going to say it, but she'd be feeling some of his stronger kicks later.

They grabbed water and towels, and walked out of the gym together. He left her with a wave, heading off to his own responsibilities, and Kate turned towards her rooms and the dreaded stairs so she could shower.

Jim met her outside her rooms once she was clean and fresh.

"I need to get you a bell," Kate said when he startled her, appearing out of nowhere.

He didn't say anything, but she was sure he was laughing at her puny human senses.

The two of them walked to the meeting she was scheduled to attend. The topic on the agenda was pack security, and specifically the latest attempt to break into the Keep. Security detail had stopped it, almost too easily, but Kate believed in their people's ability to do their jobs quickly and effectively.

Still, the meeting spilled over into her lunch, and her stomach was grumbling by the time she managed to escape and feed herself. Andrea joined her, grabbing a couple of French fries off Kate's plate.

"Get your own," Kate said, glaring.

Andrea just laughed. Kate didn't know when she had lost her edge, but she didn't like it.

Andrea grabbed a few more, and Kate resisted the urge to shove the entire serving into her mouth. It wouldn't be fitting for half the Keep to see the Consort stuffing her face, after all, but that didn't stop her from daydreaming longingly about it.

Andrea laughed, and they chatted while Kate ate her lunch, Andrea shamelessly stealing more food off Kate's plate. Members of the Pack drifted by to say hello. 

When they were done eating, Kate realised here was nothing pressing at the Keep she needed to see to that afternoon. She hadn’t been by her offices in a few days, so she headed out into the city. The electricity was up, so she decided to drive. If the magic came up later she could always leave the car behind. Sure, the chances of it getting burglarized were pretty high, but that was the case pretty much anywhere in Atlanta. 

Curran would appreciate the gesture, she thought. He was always going off at her about making sure she wasn’t alone and had escape routes. Then she wondered when she started taking other people’s opinions into consideration just as much--or even more--than her own. It was probably around the same time that she started taking other people into her life in general. 

She sighed and went to seek out either Barbaras or Jezebel. 

As luck would have it, the two of them were together. When Kate told them she was going to spend the afternoon at Cutting Edge Investigations, they both agreed to come along for the ride. 

Kate tried to talk them out of it, saying one of them would be enough. There was no reason for the two of them to interrupt their schedule, but Jezebel cut off that line of protest quickly enough. 

“We’re just doing paperwork, which we can do just as well anywhere. Stop whining and let’s get on the road before the electricity falls.” 

Kate had to agree that she had a point, and despite Jez’s warning the electricity held through their journey and all of the afternoon. It was nice to be able to do her work on the computer instead of having to rely on paper records. The case she was working on was easy enough--a simple theft recovery--but it required a lot of legwork before Kate could go about actually retrieving the stolen goods. 

By the time they headed back to the Keep in the early evening Kate had made a crucial breakthrough, and only two people had come into her office off the street to harass her. A near record. 

Nothing seemed to have caught on fire while they were gone from the Keep, and Kate heaved a silent breath of relief to see everything still standing. Or perhaps not so silent, judging by the way Jez eyed her when they walked through the door. 

It wasn’t that Kate didn’t trust the Pack to keep things running safely while she was gone. They’d managed for decades before she came along, after all. It just seemed like every time she turned her back lately there was some disaster or another she was having to sort out. 

Really. 

She stood at the bottom of the stairs staring up, until a warm hand rested on her shoulder. She turned, finding herself pressed against Curran’s warmth. 

“Knee bothering you?” he asked. 

She shook her head. It wasn’t, at least it wasn’t bothering her any more than was usual. She just really, _really_ hated these stairs. 

“I could carry you?” he offered. 

She stared at him for a moment, imagining him carrying her bridal style up the stairs, and what everyone would say, what kind of scandal it would make. She sighed and began to shake her head no, when she had another idea. 

“Really?” she asked him. 

“Yes,” he said. His voice was steady, but she could detect the trace of surprise that she was actually considering his offer. 

She gripped his chin and pulled him down for a chaste kiss on the mouth. “Really,” she said, eyes dancing with laughter. 

Before he could scoop her up with an arm under her knees, she braced her hands firmly on his shoulders and hopped up on his back, piggyback style. 

He twisted his neck to look back at her, an eyebrow arched. 

“What?” she asked. “You did offer.” 

He chuckled. She settled her arms firmly around his neck, pressing her face into his nape and nuzzling softly before pressing a lingering opened mouth kiss at the top of his spine. 

“Giddyup,” she said, squeezing his middle with her thighs. 

He took the stairs two at a time, and they didn’t surface for dinner.


End file.
